Incandescence
by Gaymer
Summary: After being attacked by an indescribable creature, an elemental is forced to move across the country in an attempt to live in safety. Unfortunately for him, his parents decided that Forks, Washington - a town inhabited by Vampires and Werewolves - was a good idea. Now Chris is forced to fight not only other elementals, but the Volturi as well, for the 'privilege' of surviving. M/M
1. Beginning

_**Hello everybody, Gaymer here, nervously posting his first story.**_

_**Let me know what you all think, I'd love to hear some good criticism and suggestions from you veterans. Just keep in mind that nervous n00b or not, I'll be ignoring and deleting all flamers, I live with two women so I'm an expert at ignoring nagging.**_

…

_**What else? Ah, this story is going to be an OMC character but I'm not sure about the pairing yet. It could be Edward since I don't like Bella, or it could be a Shifter since I don't like Edward. The pairing WILL be male/male however (If my penname didn't give that away), so keep that in mind if you want to suggest a pairing for me.**_

_**Oh, and I don't own Twilight in any way, shape or form… not even the books… I've just read a lot of fanfiction and seen my sister's movies once or twice.**_

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><p>Howling filled the air, the mournful note echoing through the house, easily audible over the muffled sounds of the storm raging outside.<p>

Groaning, the house's sole inhabitant rolled onto his back, brown eyes opening in the darkness to glare at the ceiling. As the howl came to a stop, Chris counted slowly to three in his head, reaching one just as another morbid howl tore through the air.

Muttering under his breath, the dark blonde boy kicked back his blankets and pulled his legs out of the bed, shivering as the cold air hit his chest and legs. "TITAN!" he shouted, sitting in the dark of his bedroom, "SHUT UP!"

Relaxing when only silence answered him, Chris shifted to pull his feet back into bed, only for the dog's howling to start up again. Rolling his shoulders and flexing his arms, he stood up slowly and started towards the door, his own body lighting his way as a soft blue glow began to emanate from his skin.

Moving through the house as his own personal glow stick, Chris followed the howling and threw open the door to the mudroom, scowling at the large german shepherd pacing the room. "Shut up" he ground out slowly, eyes narrowing as Titan turned to face him, his hackles rising warningly. "Are you growling at me?" Chris snapped, straightening his back and shoulders as he flexed again, causing the light radiating from his body to flare brightly.

Thankfully Titan backed down quickly, making Chris scoff as he crouched and gestured the dog over. "Good boy" he murmured gently, scratching behind Titan's ears as his tail thumped against the ground softly, "Come on, you can bunk with me tonight" he decided as he stood up.

Chris had just reached the door when Titan started growling again, the feral sound making him stiffen and turn to look at the german shepherd who was staring intently at the door. "Oh come on!" he exclaimed, "I'm home alone during a bloody storm, and you're growling at something outside? Are you _trying_ to get me killed here?"

Shaking his head, Chris patted Titan's side and whistled sharply to regain his attention. "Come on mutt, there's no serial killer hanging around outside" he dismissed as he turned on his heel and left the room, only the sound of Titan's claws tapping against the wooden floor implying the dog was obeying him.

Climbing back into bed quickly, Chris felt the bed dipping as Titan jumped up onto the end and lay down across his legs. "See?" he asked with a yawn, "Much more comfortable". Ignoring the dog's long sigh, Chris pulled his blankets up to his chin and rolled his shoulders, causing the glow his skin was emitting to fade away.

_THUMP_

Chris snapped up in bed, his skin shining like the sun as he sat there stiffly. Both he and Titan listened intently to the heavy footsteps that were making their way across the roof, his hand twitching with the urge to grab his phone and call either his parents or the police. As Titan started growling, Chris slid out of bed and pulled on his jeans and a singlet, his ears focused on the footsteps that moved across the roof to stand directly above him.

Sneaking as quietly from his room as he could, Chris reached the kitchen and snatched up the landline, beginning to dial 911 as he heard the footsteps following him. He wasn't the top in class at school, but even he was smart enough to _not_ do what most teenagers in a horror film would do and go investigate. Dread flooded him moments before it happened, the sound of the phone going dead echoing through the earpiece.

Oh hell no, he was _not _going to die like some dumb blonde in a horror movie.

Allowing his glow to fade down, Chris darted across the kitchen and started going through the drawers, smirking to himself as he pulled out his mother's chef knife. He'd like to see the creep running around on his roof get to him no - _and something just broke through a window _- he was so going to die.

Tightening his grip on the knife, Chris ducked down behind the kitchen bench, swallowing nervously as he listened to the loud footsteps moving through the house. Running a hand through his hair slowly, he tracked the intruder by their footsteps, hoping they wouldn't find him and attack before he was ready. Biting back the urge to slap himself as he realised something, he turned off his glow, stopping his blue aura from giving his position away to the intruder.

Growling made him flinch, wondering if he should shut his bedroom door before the dog could get out, or if he should let Titan hunt down the intruder and maul. Slipping into the hallway, Chris made his way through the dark corridor, relying on all his senses bar his sight to track the intruder. Shivering as cold air rolled over his body, Chris glanced up at the ceiling, faltering at the sight of the broken skylight that the intruder had obviously come in through. Glancing around cautiously, Chris caught the sight of movement in his bedroom, backing away from the light coming from the skylight and stepping through the open door of his father's office.

As he watched, the shadow moved around his room and stepped into the hallway, Titan looking both ways before lowering his head to the ground and following a scent down the hallway with his fur on end. The hair on the back of his own neck rising, Chris swallowed painfully, goosebumps popping up along his arms.

The intruder was standing right behind him weren't they?

Slowly turning his neck to stare behind him, Chris rolled his shoulders, his skin turning incandescent and causing the _creature_ before him to shriek in pain.

Letting out a scream of his own Chris scrambled out the office door, staring at the small creature in horror as it shied and burned under the light radiating from his body. As the creature backed away into the corner, he watched as the being made of what looked like pure _shadows_ hissed at him darkly, and the wings on its back spread out threateningly.

Pushing himself to his feet, he backed away from the creature slowly, not taking his eyes from it as it crawled along the wall after him. What the hell _was_ that thing? Chris knew that there were paranormal/supernatural things out there, he was one of them after all, but nothing he had found in his research matched the _monster_ snarling at him.

Screaming again as the creature lunged at him, Chris threw himself to the side, scrambling back across the carpet as it turned to growl at him. Stepping forward, the demon-thing's skin began sizzling and boiling, the light radiating from his body somehow injuring it. As it came closer, Chris's knuckles went white around the hilt of the knife, lashing out the moment it came within arm's reach and watching as the knife cut harmlessly through the demon's shadowy flesh.

Biting back a whimper, Chris kicked out at the demon and flinched when it screeched in pain, the light issuing from his bare foot tearing through it's body. Realising quickly that there was only one way to defeat the demon, Chris twisted around and launched himself at it, tackling it to the ground. Clamping his eyes shut in fear, Chris wrapped around the demon's body and held it to his own in a bear hug, pouring as much energy into his blue aura as he could.

A scream tore from Chris' mouth as the demon's claws dug into his back and stomach, the creature fighting to force him away as he felt it's skin shrivelling up and melting against his skin. As teeth sunk into his shoulder, Chris felt liquid fire beginning to burn through his veins, his own skin smoking as he felt blood pouring from the gouges in his body.

The creature's pained shrieks suddenly turned hysterical, and then there was silence as Chris fell forward to hit the floor, the demon simply dissolving into dust and vanishing. Groaning as he tried to push himself to his hands and knees, Chris blinked down at the blood covering the wooden floor and dripping from his body. Leaning back onto his hands and knees, Chris shakily pulled apart the torn edges of his singlet to stare at his stomach, the light shining from the rapidly shrinking holes in his body and leaving only silvery scars in their places.

His body aching like he had just run a marathon non-stop, Chris rolled over onto his side, avoiding the pool of blood as he stared up at the ceiling numbly. He had won… the demon was dead and he was somehow uninjured. Raising his hand, Chris concentrated and watched as he started glowing again, this time the light being noticeably fainter than it normally would be.

Groaning slowly, Chris looked down the hall to the glass on the floor, then to the pile of dust and the pool of his own blood. What the hell was that thing? And why had it come after him? Did somebody know about his 'powers' and so sent that creature to kill him? And what if they went after his parents next? He couldn't fight another of these things without outing himself as a freak, so if they were attacked then he'd have no choice in the matter.

But first, he needed to clean up in here. A broken window he could blame on the storm, but there was no chance that his parents would so easily dismiss a still growing puddle of their son's blood.

And wow was that a morbid thought.


	2. Relocation

_**Gaymer does not own Twilight. He only owns Chris, and he costs more money than he's worth.**_

_**Also. YAY! Chapter Two!**_

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><p>"Hey kid. Wake up".<p>

Jumping slightly, Chris glanced up at his father, blinking at him for a moment before stepping forward to take the boxes that were being held out for him with a mumbled apology.

He was seriously beginning to regret not telling his parents he had been attacked by a shadow-monster-thing.

His claims of 'the storm did it' hadn't lasted long after their nosey neighbor popped over to complain about the screaming. The annoying old lady had then mentioned that the phone line was dead, his father quickly discovering that the line had been cut by someone. Add to that the bruises that his 'powers' hadn't healed and they quickly assumed that they had been broken into, and that Chris had fought the intruder off.

And sure, being broken into is a bad thing. But did it really warrant moving partway across the country to a new state? His mother had refused to stay in such an 'unsafe' home, and had insisted that they moved. By the time Chris had realised she was serious, his parents had already arranged for transfers, and his mother was talking about their new house.

"Is that for the kitchen?" his Mom's voice cut into his thoughts, making him nod simply in response. "Put it on the bench then, do you know how many more boxes there are?" she added.

"The truck is still full," Chris denied with a shrug, following her through the new (And unfortunately blue) dining room and into the kitchen. "Dad's going to dump most of it onto the porch," he added as he recalled his father's words, "Leave us to bring it in from there".

While his mother hummed in understanding, Chris quickly dropped the boxes onto the bench and fled the room. His Mom hadn't forgiven him yet for fighting off the 'burglar' on his own, and if he stuck around then she wouldn't hesitate to remind him about the two month long punishment for his 'idiotic behaviour'.

Making it outside, Chris glanced around the 'front yard' of their new house, grateful they were around five minutes out of town. They were surrounded by trees as well, on the border of a small forest, the road barely visible past the separate double garage. From what he remembered his mother saying, there was a house opposite them on the other side of the highway, but other than that they were alone and out of the way of an thieves.

He imagined the security system his mother had ordered online would help with that…

Sighing slowly, he crouched down to pick up some more boxes, quickly checking to see where they were from as he started back into the house. The faster they were unpacked, the faster he could go check out his new bedroom. He hadn't even been upstairs yet, let alone seen his bedroom, it was probably pink or something as part of his punishment.

Well it wasn't pink…

"What do you think boy?" he asked slowly, looking around the room emotionlessly.

"It's not _that_ bad" his father's voice said from the doorway as Titan ignored him. "We'll pick up some paint and you can paint it yourself" he offered as Chris looked around the room in annoyance. "Maybe you should move your bed though" the black-haired man suggested, his voice amused as Chris glared at him.

"I'm going to brain myself aren't I?" he muttered sarcastically, turning back to face the sloped ceiling that spanned my entire bedroom. "Why is my room the attic again?" he asked with a grimace, "Actually why is my room _half_ the attic? If they were going to torture the owner of this room by making it a half-room, then why couldn't they include the other half of the attic?"

"Well admittedly this wasn't supposed to be a bedroom" Richard confessed, his father padding over to the large ceiling to floor windows and peering out. "This was supposed to be the games room with the music room next door" he explained, "Your mother and I figured you'd like the space though, it's on the opposite side of the house from our room and up it's own set of stairs. Like your own little flat actually, that's a bathroom" his Dad added as he pointed to one of the doors on the wall.

Grunting under his breath, Chris turned around to study the deep blue room. "I could put the bed there I guess" he mumbled, "And change the colour".

"That's the spirit" Richard chirped, "Huh… strange people on our lawn"

Curiously Chris moved over to the window as well, squinting across the darkened property to the four people heading up the driveway. "The neighbours?" he suggested with a shrug, "I'm gonna start moving my things up". As his father muttered an agreement, Chris headed to the stairs in the corner and started down them, opening the door at their base and stepping into the second living room where his things were piled in boxes.

"We're getting pizza tonight, your usual?" his Dad asked, making him grunt again, sticking his thumb out in approval. "Chatty aren't we?" the man muttered under his breath as he vanished down the stairs to the first floor.

Ignoring his father's sarcasm, Chris started carting the boxes up into his room, absently snorting at the sound of the doorbell ringing and Titan's barking back at it. After carrying up fifteen boxes, Chris came down to an empty room, frowning as he glanced back up to his new room. He was sure he had packed sixteen boxes into the main truck, the rest of his things would be coming with the rest of the furniture later on in the week, but he was certain that he had brought sixteen boxes with him.

Turning to check his room, wondering if he had just miscounted, he was stopped by a cry of "Chris! Come down here please!" from downstairs.

Biting back a groan, he obediently completed the turn and instead headed for the stairs down to the 'sitting room' (Which, according to his mother, was a _very _different thing to a living room). The moment he stepped into the room and his eyes fell on the four guests, he was struck by the thought that they were all rather attractive, leaving him feeling strangely inadequate standing there in sweatpants and a hoodie.

"Ah! This is our son, Christopher" his Mom said to the guests. "Chris, this is Carlisle and his wife Esme" she introduced, gesturing to the two oldest, the blond man and the woman with caramel hair. "Esme's the one who designed the house, and Carlisle is going to work with your father" she explained. "And these two are some of their children" his mother continued, "Edward, and Alice" she pointed to the red-haired boy and the beaming black-haired girl at each name.

"Uh, hi?" Chris offered slowly, smiling politely and inclining his head at them. What was he supposed to do here? He had grown up in Helena, the capital of Montana, so there was no awkward introductions in a city where he'd gone to preschool with all the kids in his area. "It's nice to meet you" he added when his mother narrowed her eyes at him.

"He looks just like you Emily!" 'Esme' exclaimed as Chris fought the urge to fidget under four golden-brown stares.

As his mother blushed and turned to talk to Esme, Carlisle and his father slipped into the corner to do the same. Unfortunately for him, this left Chris alone with Edward and Alice, the two of them not blinking as they continued to stare at him. Skipping forward suddenly, Alice linked their arms and started pulling him towards the staircase, Chris stumbling after her as Edward just sighed and followed.

"So Chris, why did you move to Forks?" the black-haired girl asked curiously.

"Oh uh, someone broke into our house " he confessed, not sure if his mother wanted this kept a secret or not. "Mom got paranoid and decided we were moving. The hospital here had an opening for Dad so they decided to come he - re" he trailed off slowly, tugging his arm free as he stepped forward to stare at the sixteenth box that had not been there before.

"Chris?" Edward's voice asked, making him glance over to see both of them watching him in confusion.

"I was looking for that box before. I must have missed it" he dismissed simply, not wanting to tell the two teenagers that he _definitely_ knew that box hadn't been there a minute ago.

Edward just shrugged in response as Chris picked up the box, Alice continuing straight past him and up the stairs to his room. "So was anything taken?" the redhead asked, still staring at him intently as he followed Alice, "When they broke in?"

"Nah" he dismissed, dropping the box next to the others. "I was home and I managed to scare him off" he said slowly, the memory of the smell of burnt flesh and burning light drifting through his mind. "Mom was ter- dude are you okay?" Chris blurted as he turned from watching Alice inspecting his room, to see Edward doubled over and clutching at his head in pain.

"Yeah, I'm fine" Edward rasped out, sounding the complete opposite.

"He's been having really bad migraines all week" Alice explained as she shot across the room and started hustling Edward down the stairs. "They just appear out of nowhere and he's out for the count. I should take him home, do you mind telling Carlisle and Esme for us?" she asked as Chris followed them nervously.

"Uh sure, of course" Chris promised as they made their way down to the ground floor. "Is he going to be alright?" he asked hesitantly, flinching as a pained whimper slipped from Edward's throat.

"Chris?" his father's voice demanded, making his head snap up to see his Dad and Carlisle hurrying towards him.

"It's okay Richard" Carlisle interrupted quickly, "Edward's been feeling the last couple of days, I think he caught something from a friend at school. I'm sorry to cut this short, but I think I should get my son home" the blond apologized.

"It's okay, I more than understand" Richard assured him as Chris stood there awkwardly. "I'll see you at the hospital on Monday anyway" he added making Carlisle nod in agreement as he transferred Edward's weight onto himself.

"You were gone for less than five minutes!" his mother hissed, after Esme apologized and rushed out after her son, "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Chris argued, "One minute he was fine and the next he was clutching his head! I didn't touch him, I didn't throw something at him, I wasn't even _looking_ at him!"

"Christopher!" his father scolded, "And you too, Emily" he added as the frown moved between the two of them. "What is with it with you two recently? You've been at each other's throats for the past couple of weeks. Besides Emily, what could Chris have done?"

"We don't know anyone here Richard" his mother defended quietly, "I thought that we could be friends with our neighbors, and for a moment I thought Chris said something to chase them off".

"Well I didn't" Chris snapped coldly, crossing his arms as he scowled at his Mom for blaming him instantly. "I just… well Alice asked why we moved here" he admitted slowly.

"And you told them?" Emily exclaimed, looking panicked.

"Sweetheart. You're a cop. Pull yourself together" Richard ordered simply, making her look flustered and embarrassed.

"I may be a cop, but I'm also a wife" she argued, "And I don't want people going around town spreading rumours about how we moved here because we're thieves or anything. I know how rumours work, and I bet you that'll happen" she promised us.

"Well I may be blond, but I'm also a teenager" Chris cut in, "And I know how high schools work. By Monday the reasons we moved here will range from serial arson to witness protection" he pointed out. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to my room so I can start unpacking" he finished slowly, "And Dad, I'll have a meat lovers pizza, an entire one. As an apology for giving me three quarters of a room".

Before his father could argue, Chris turned and started back up the stairs, rushing through the living room to shut the door to his bedroom behind him. Listening carefully for an refusal being shouted up after him, he smirked to himself and pumped the air when only silence followed.

Still grinning, Chris climbed the stairs to his new bedroom and looked around, moving over to sit on the end of the surprisingly soft bed. Despite Edward getting sick in the room, Chris felt like he could get used to it. He'd just have to slap a few coats of paint on the walls, throw up some posters, and it'd be like home… a lopsided home.

As he exhaled loudly, listening to the lack of echo, his eyes fell upon the magically disappearing box number sixteen. Sitting there a moment, Chris stood and moved over to it, dropping to the floor and opening it up. Pulling out the charger to his laptop, Chris rifled through the box, confusion beginning to fill him as he realised what was missing. Emptying the box onto the floor, he stared for a moment before crawling over and searching through the other fifteen boxes.

His laptop wasn't there, someone had taken it when the box had gone missing. Looking towards the door, he wondered if his parents had taken the box to borrow his laptop while the computer was still waiting to be driven up. Except… except the box had been gone when he had went down, and it had reappeared when he had gone up. His parents had been downstairs the entire time.

Someone… or something… had been in the house and had taken his laptop. The same laptop that had his research on 'photokinesis' (The 'official' name for his power) on it. The same laptop that had scanned sketches of the creature that had attacked him around a month ago.

The same laptop that held video proof that he wasn't human.

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><p><em><strong>Quick question. Could someone let me know how I should write about his parents? Is it just 'his mothermom' and 'his father/dad' since it's in Chris in third person? Or would I use Emily/Richard, or even Mom/Dad occasionally?**_


	3. Discussions

_**So… I was checking the reviews of one of my favorite stories to see where I was up to, when I noticed a rather familiar name among the reviews. After checking to make sure I wasn't just imagining it, I discovered that yes this was the same author as was reviewing on this story. But that wasn't the exciting part, not the exciting part was when I saw on her profile that 'Incandescence' by yours truly is her recommended story!**_

_**So this chapter is dedicated to **_'**Maiannaise'** _**for brightening up my day.**_

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><p>Chris was awake long before the alarm on his phone went off.<p>

Sleep had been impossible. How was he supposed to sleep when every instinct he had, told him to stay awake so he could protect his 'territory' whenever the shadow creature came back?

But then… that was the problem.

Three times. Three times something had broken into his house - his territory - and all three times it had been going after him. The shadow creature hadn't even glanced twice at Titan, he knew the cowardly german shepherd sleeping at the base of his bed wouldn't still be alive if it had. Instead the creature had gone after him from the get go, following him across the roof as if it could sense or smell him somehow.

Weren't animals supposed to avoid things that hurt them? Like wolves avoid fire or something? He was probably the only thing in the entire house, hell the entire neighbourhood that could have hurt the creature, yet it still came after him and him alone.

And then mere hours ago, something had broken into his house _twice_. First to steal a box with his things in it, and secondly to return the box minus his laptop. How could he sleep knowing that the shadow creature could have been in his very room, and could so easily get back into the house.

All night he'd just laid there, his whole body tense, jumping at the shadows of his bedroom. He'd given up in the end, keeping a glowing arm above the blankets to chase away the oppressive shadows. It was humiliating, even if no one knew about it. He hadn't needed a nightlight since he was five and had decided that he was 'too cool' to have one.

Showering and dressing in record time, Chris was walking into the kitchen less than twenty minutes later, spotting his mother sitting at the bench with her back to the door.

"Can I drive today?" he asked in greeting, his mother starting slightly as he made his presence known.

"Hello to you too," she said through a mouthful of cereal, "And you're grounded remember? Besides, today is just a meeting with the principal to go over your enrolment. You won't start till tomorrow if everything goes well. Have you finished unpacking yet?" she added absently as he started searching through the mainly empty cupboards for the bowls.

"The only thing in my room is a bed, Mom," Chris pointed out dryly, not needing to say more.

"Your father and I were talking about that," his mother began, making him grimace apprehensively. "A lot of your old furniture was second, or even third hand, from your grandfather. We were thinking that we should just take you to an IKEA or something so you can pick out some furniture yourself," she explained, "You could get some paint as well and make the room truly yours".

Turning to face her, Chris studied his mother for a moment, picking up on the way she was fidgeting with her spoon and keeping her eyes locked on the bowl. "What did you do?" he asked with a sigh, easily recognising his mother's actions as guilt.

"Nothing?" his mother replied uncertainly, her facial expression turning into confusion as she frowned up at him. "We just feel bad about making you move like this. You obviously didn't want to. But my paranoia, well it knows no bounds," she joked. "If it makes you feel better, then you should know that I'm allowing your father to pick our meals for the next month," she added, "He claimed it wasn't very fair that you got something when he didn't want to move either".

"Yeah. Not buying it Mom," Chris drawled bluntly, making her sigh in resignation.

"Your father wasn't very happy with how I've been taking it out on you," she admitted, "It wasn't your fault we almost got robbed. It wasn't your fault that when the phone line went dead, the burglar was between you and your cell. I can't blame you for defending your home when I would have done the same ten times over," she explained. "And while I don't like it that you did, it's not right for me to punish you".

"So…" Chris began slowly, wrapping his mind around what his mother had just said. "I'm not grounded anymore?" he asked hesitantly.

"Oh no, you're still grounded," his Mom denied simply, "But I was wrong".

Shrugging, Chris turned back to the fridge and pulled out the milk, grabbing the cereal and looking around for the bowls. "Bowls?" he asked, thinking about his mother's admission as she pointed at the box on the bench. "Okay, you were wrong. What does that mean?" he questioned, knowing his parents well enough to know that there was a hidden aspect to his Mom's apology.

"It means 'I'm sorry and I was wrong'," his mother clarified. "Don't read too much into it, brat," she warned fondly.

As he shrugged the room returned to silence, neither of them feeling the need to speak as he made himself breakfast and leaned against the counter to eat it. "Why don't you go get dressed," his mother said suddenly, "When you're finished eating we can head out. I want to grab some groceries after we talk to your principal. I know he has a few questions regarding the transcripts your old school sent over".

"I am dressed," Chris corrected without blinking. "And do I have to be there? Can't I take a look around while you talk to the principal?".

"No, you can't. Now go put on some clothes that _don't_ make you look homeless," came the deadpanned response, making him roll his eyes and pick his bowl up.

"I'm going to my room where I won't be victimized for my sense of fashion," he declared loudly.

"Your father's at work".

Chris paused for a moment before shrugging. "I'm gonna go get changed then," he decided, not seeing the point in wasting good drama on his mother. "See what clothes I actually packed for the week".

As his mother snorted in amusement, Chris hurried into his bedroom to get changed, throwing on some jeans and a plaid button-up. "You don't look homeless Christopher," he told himself seriously in the mirror, "You look absolutely drop-dead stunning". Pocketing his phone, Chris returned to the mirror and stared at his reflection, picking at his hair and clothes absently.

He may not be starting at Forks High today, but he'd still be seen walking to and from the principal's office (And probably on a tour as well if he remembered how his old school worked). And everyone knew that despite how judging a book by it's cover was wrong, it was still crucial to make a good first impression.

The only problem was that he'd gone to one school most of his life, not including the jump from primary to high school, so he had no idea what to expect. All he remembered from his old school was new students were often the most interesting thing to happen to the student body outside of who was dating who.

As he ran his hand through his hair one last time, his eyes drifted past his reflection and landed on his bed, his mother's cry of "CHRIS! HURRY UP!" echoing up the stairs as he stiffened at what he saw.

Jaw clenching, Chris looked between the door and his bed quickly, groaning before he darted forward and grabbed his laptop from the bed and shoved it under his mattress. Snatching up his wallet he spun around and barreled down the stairs, shoving it into his pocket as he slid to a halt in front of his Mom, spreading his arms to say 'Look! I'm not homeless anymore!'

"Very nice dear, do you have your key and wallet?" she asked expectantly.

Faltering for a moment, Chris blinked slowly, trying to remember if he had even been given a key. "I have a key?" he finally asked, grinning sheepishly at his mother who just sighed at him.

"Richard said he was going to give it to you this morning," his mother dismissed, "Nevermind. Just get in the car and I'll grab it later".

Climbing into the car obediently, Chris found himself studying the road as his mother started driving, not wanting to show up late to school one day because he didn't know where he was going.

As he went to obey his mother, Chris stepped outside into the sunlight, a startled noise ripping through his body as the power he could feel in his veins started humming. Slowly to a stop, he automatically raised his face to the sun, basking in both the weak warmth and the feeling in his body.

"Better enjoy it while it lasts," his Mom suggested sadly, "During winter there's only an average of around fifty-five hours of sunlight in Forks".

Chris' neck let out a painful crack as his head snapped around to stare at his mother in shock. "Say what?" he blurted dumbly, the blonde part of his mind absently pointing out that now he knew why the neighbors were so pale.

"Esme mentioned the rain last night so I looked it up, there's a mean of fifty-five hours of sunlight per month from November to January," his mother explained. "Thankfully during the middle of the year it's around two hundred hours however, so it's not always going to be so miserable".

"Oh my God," he exhaled, collapsing against the side of the car. "You go ahead and tell the Principal I'm sick. It's half-way through September, that means Fall is starting and that I should take advantage of the sun while it's here," he declared as he turned away from the car dramatically.

"Just get in the car. You can work on your tan later," his mother scolded, "Besides you have my skin, we're already pretty tanned, we just burn instead".

"Sure we do," Chris muttered under his breath as his Mom vanished into the car, memories flashing through his mind of the liquid fire crawling through his veins mere two months ago. 'If only that were true', he found himself thinking. Being able to burst into flames like the Human Torch would certainly have helped him beat the shadow creature a hell of a lot quicker.

It also would have looked totally badass…

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><p>"Christopher!"<p>

If he had time to react then he would have groaned.

But since he didn't, he instead found himself on the ground blinking up at the ceiling.

"Hello Alice," he greeted as the sheepish girl helped him up guiltily, "How's Edward?"

"Home, he's still not well," the black-haired girl explained, "I think Carlisle is going to bring him in for some scans if he gets worse. What about you? You didn't look so good last night".

"I didn't?" Chris asked hesitantly. This was news to him, aside from feeling a little frightened of the thing that could get in and out of his house twice without him noticing, he had been feeling alright. "What do you mean?" he asked as he glanced around and faltered at the sight of most of the curious students in the corridor staring at him in outright shock. "And why is everybody looking at me like that?"

"When we first moved here we got teased for being foster children," Alice confessed quietly, "So we only hang out with each other. Everyone seems to forget that they're the reason so they're always shocked when we willingly talk to someone".

"Oh," Chris mumbled awkwardly, "That sucks?" he offered uncertainly.

"I know," was all Alice said in response. "So are you starting here soon?" she asked with a grin, her previous sombre mood vanished entirely, "What year will you be in?"

"Yeah, my last," Chris admitted. "Kind of sucks to be moving less than a month into my last year, but, well I wasn't given much choice".

"Well you _are_ eighteen right? Didn't you have family you could stay with?" Alice asked curiously.

Instantly Chris started shifted awkwardly, his eyes darting towards the door his mother and the Principal were behind. "Nah, I'm not eighteen yet," he corrected simply, not wanting to get further into that topic.

"Really? Are you going to have a huge party for your eighteenth?" Alice asked hopefully, her golden-brown pupils widening much like a cat's do when they're in a crazy mood. "Because there's been a disappointing lack of 'Happy Eighteenth' parties in Forks this year".

"No party sorry," Chris muttered, shooting the Principal's office another desperate look. He needed to get out before Alice asked the _question_.

"I'm sure you could talk you parents into it," Alice dismissed, "They seemed like cool people. When is your birthday? I need to know how much time I have to plan".

"Why do you care?" he snapped defensively, "It's not like we're friends. We don't even know each other," Chris pointed out.

"I want to be friends," Alice whispered softly, the broken look on her face pulling at his heartstrings. "I don't have any friends who aren't foster children," she explained as guilt flooded him, "I thought since we were neighbors you might not treat me like a leper for being an orphan".

"I won't! I won't," Chris promised her quickly, mentally kicking himself as he glanced both ways to make sure he wouldn't be overheard. "It's just I'm a little… iffy… about my age," he muttered quietly.

"Were you put back a year?" Alice mumbled, still looking like a kicked puppy.

Before he could explain himself, the door to the Principal's office opened and his mother stepped out, a smug look on her face as the Principal himself looked utterly defeated. "Oh! How are you Alice?" she asked innocently, making the black-haired girl perk up happily.

"I'm good Mrs Amell," Alice chirped, "Edward's still sick though, Carlisle's getting worried".

"Yes, I can imagine," his Mom agreed, "I still remember how Richard acted every time Chris so much as coughed. Come to think of it, he _still_ acts like that," she added with a thoughtful murmur. "Oops, I think we've overstayed our welcome," his mother apologized as the school bell rang, "It was nice talking to you Alice, but I'm afraid Chris and I have to go, we've got to finish unpacking and all".

"Wait!" Alice blurted as Chris tried to follow his Mom, "Were you put back a year?" she repeated as she grabbed his arm.

"No, and I wasn't put up on either," Chris denied, trying to gently pull his arm free.

"But then why are you funny about your age?" Alice pressed curiously.

Biting back a groan as he looked longingly after his mother's retreating back, Chris decided to just pull it off like a bandaid, and to hopefully use the shock to escape. "Because I'm only sixteen," he confessed bluntly, taking advantage of her shock to slip out of her grasp and to make a run for it.

**LINEBREAK**

_**Before anyone complains about Chris being sixteen, yet still being a senior, I have this to say. **_

_**When I entered my final year at High School I was sixteen, it was only three months after school started that I turned seventeen. I graduated high school as a seventeen year old, and started university as a seventeen year old. And I was not the youngest in my year either.**_


	4. Education

_**So here's chapter 4, this one actually took a lot of time to write because of the ending. And while I don't think it's perfect, I'm rather happy with it and I hope you guys like it too.**_

* * *

><p>"CHRIS!"<p>

"Oh my god really?" he whined as a bouncy black-haired girl appeared in front of the car, "If I sit still do you think she'll notice me?" he asked slowly.

Just because he had to start school today didn't mean he had to enjoy it or make any friends, and Chris was determined to do neither. While he had no problem with playing nice, he wanted to try scope everyone out before he committed to anyone. And despite the fact that he actually like Alice so far, he didn't want to have to deal with her happiness that early in the morning.

Sometimes he wished his parents let him drink coffee...

"Don't be a dick. Go try make friends," his father said, smirking unashamedly, "Your mother will pick you up. You'll be going to Port Angeles to get the furniture this afternoon".

"I hate you," Chris offered bluntly, pulling his bag up from the footwell and climbing out of the car. "And don't kill anyone," both he and his father warned simultaneously, Chris slamming the door shut as he turned to face the anti-christ of mornings with a slow "Hello Alice".

"You look cheerful this morning," Alice said simply, smiling at him innocently as he scowled at her in response. "This is Jasper, my boyfriend," she introduced as an exhausted looking blonde teen appeared at her side, "Jazz, this is Chris, his family moved in across the street".

"Hey," Chris greeted hesitantly, the hostile look in the newcomer's eyes making him pause. "Does everyone in Forks have eyes that color?" he asked without thinking, easily linking Jasper's dark golden-brown eyes to the ones the rest of Alice's foster family had.

"It's actually kind of a common color around here," Alice dismissed with a wave of her hand, "Your eyes are kind of the same, just darker than ours".

"I guess," Chris mumbled as the three of them started towards the school building. "So any warnings?" he asked hopefully, glancing over at Alice and Jasper, "Topics or places to avoid. People even?"

Alice looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking her head, "Nope".

"So this place is cool then?" he asked a little sceptically. No school was without it's stereotypical jocks, popular kid, and nerd divisions. To have a place without that would mean to have a school with only one student.

"Oh definitely not," Alice denied, "I just meant I wasn't going to give you any warnings. Good luck!"

Before he fully realised what she was saying, Alice was dragging Jasper into the crowd and leaving him in the corridor, dozens of curious looks being thrown his way. Biting back a sigh, he patted down his pockets and pulled out the schedule and the map that the Principal had given him the previous day.

And his first class today was… calculus… lovely.

Quickly checking the map and the time, Chris started towards 'building five', missing having a one building school already. He missing statistics already as well, he wasn't sure why his parents would sign him up for calculus when he took statistics back in Helena, but he _did_ know that he hated calculus with a passion.

As he glanced up to make sure he was going in the right direction, Chris' eyes widened and his head jerked backwards, just in time for the opening door to hit the rest of his body and send him sprawling back across the floor. Letting out a relieved noise as his hands rose up to touch his thankfully untouched face, Chris looked past them to where a guilty looking brunette girl was standing in front of the now closed door, blinking down at him in shock.

As they both opened their mouths to speak, Chris felt his eyes warming up, power bubbling to the surface that he quickly squashed down before he started glowing. Shaking it off, he opened his eyes to look up at the girl, only to see her opening her own eyes as well, a soft humming feeling echoing in the back of his mind as he met her light brown eyes.

"Hi. Nice to meet you too," Chris drawled, lowering his hands to stare up at the confused looking girl. "However, it doesn't matter how pretty you are, I have standards. It'll take a nice candlelit dinner and some roses before I let you get me on my back again," he deadpanned, watching as she blinked again, her face beginning to go bright red while he kept his own face completely serious.

"Here. Let me help you up Chris," he muttered, just loud enough for her to hear as he pulled himself up to his feet. "It's my fault you're on the floor in the first place, I feel oh so guilty for violently attacking you like that Chris. Let me make it up to you by showing you the way to calculus," he continued in a false falsetto.

"What?" the girl asked dumbly, taking her glasses off to clean them on her shirt before sliding them back on to stare at him.

"Of course you can show me to calculus Angela," Chris replied politely, taking her name from the textbook she was holding against her chest.

"Oh! Right!" Angela agreed, half turning away from him before freezing. "What?" she asked again, looking so lost that it was all he could do to _not_ burst into laughter.

"You were just offering to escort me to calculus after you knocked me to the floor," Chris explained innocently.

"No I wasn't," Angela denied, looking around in the hopes that someone would save her from him.

"Yes you were. Didn't you hear yourself? My voice isn't that high so it must have been yours," Chris pointed out simply, making her look even more lost than before.

"I've don't even know your name," Angela admitted bluntly.

"Sure you do, you called me Chris twice," he corrected.

Angela closed her eyes slowly, standing there silently for a moment before nodding. "I'm sorry for knocking you over," she apologized, her eyes still closed, "I wasn't paying attention. Would you like me to show you the way to calculus in way of apology?" she asked obediently, finally looking like she had caught up.

"I dunno, are you sure you just don't want to attack me with a door again?" Chris asked with a grin, one that only grew as Angela opened her eyes to scowl at him.

"I've got calculus first anyway," Angela added, turning her back on him and starting down the corridor. "I take it you're the new kid in town?" she asked curiously as he caught up with her, "You should hear some of the rumors about you".

"I'm sure I'll hear them all by the end of today," Chris dismissed, not wanting to leave Angela's side before he found out why he felt the humming behind his eyes. "Which one's your favorite?"

"The one where you're the new Cullen Kid," Angela confessed, making him raise an eyebrow at her in confusion. "The Cullen family? Doctor Cullen? That black-haired girl you've been talking to?"

"Alice? Oh, Cullen's their last name?" he realised, "Nah. They're my neighbors, my place isn't too far from theirs. They came over to introduce themselves".

"What's the truth then?" Angela asked as they stepped around a group of guys wearing football jackets. "Where did you really move here from? You know, since you're obviously not from Japan. Second favorite rumor," she clarified.

"How many of these rumors are actually serious?" Chris asked instead, purposely avoiding the question, "Because I know I made up some really funny rumors back at my old school. But I've always wondered how many of them were people being serious about it".

"I don't think the majority is serious," Angela said uncertainly, "Well I'd like to say they're not. But unfortunately Forks isn't the brightest city on the map".

Chuckling as they finally reached the classroom, Chris handed his slip over to the teacher, who glared at him darkly for some reason as he signed it and shoved it back without reading it. Brushing off the urge to make a sarcastic comment, he followed Angela over to the desks and sat in the one beside her, ignoring the girl's look of shock.

"So. Any warnings?" he asked her slowly, hoping that unlike Alice, Angela would actually answer him.

"Don't outsmart Mr Varner," Angela whispered, "He does _not_ appreciate it, and he _will_ make your life a living hell".

"Don't outsmart the teacher? I've never taken calculus before, so I should be able to manage that one," Chris murmured softly, Angela looking at him in surprise. "How hard can it be?"

* * *

><p>"My brain hurts".<p>

"Be quiet," Angela hissed at him as they sat down in History. "Just pretend I'm an ostrich or something. My head is buried in the ground, so I can't hear or see your inability to shut your mouth".

"Ostrich don't actually bury their heads," Chris corrected absently, glancing around the classroom and trying to meet the eyes of everyone that was staring at him. "That's just a myth. They're are the fastest land birds, so they don't need to hide like that, if they did then they just flop down and lay flat on the ground".

"As interesting as that is, you're not shutting up," Angela groaned. "I thought you said you'd never done advanced math before?"

"I took statistics at my old school," Chris corrected with a shrug, "I thought calculus was supposed to be the harder class?"

"It _is_".

Hiding his grin at the hybrid glare-pout on Angela's face, Chris allowed himself to look around the room properly. One of the first things he noticed was Alice grinning at him from the other side of the room, making him smile politely back at her. Other than her, everyone else were boring-looking people that were studying him curiously, none of them brave enough to speak to him. Oh… and there was a black-haired boy glaring at him, glancing between him and Angela jealously.

That could be fun…

"Don't even think about it," Angela interrupted, "You're planning something and I'm not interested".

Grinning openly as the teacher entered the room, Chris ensured he behaved throughout history, the class being one of the only ones he had actually enjoyed at his old school. But this time, unlike in calculus, a couple of the students actually gathered up the courage to lean over and whisper some questions to him while the teacher was distracted,

But, just like he'd been doing to Angela all morning, he managed to easily deflect any questions about his personal life. If he could beat his parents, a police officer and a doctor, in a game of words then some teenagers had no hope against him. And while he wasn't sure why they thought they had the right to know _everything _about him (As far as he was concerned, people just don't ask people they've never spoken to before, "If you were a woman for a day, what would you do?" It just wasn't done, _ever_. (And for future reference it would depend on whether or not he was a pretty woman)), but if he wanted his personal details plastered around town, then he'd use his facebook for more than keeping in touch with his friends.

He was starting to like Angela though. She gave off a 'I'm a good girl' vibe that actually felt real, and once she got over her Christopher-induced shock she managed to give almost as good as she got. Of course that strange thrumming in his head hadn't gone away, but he was willing to pretend to ignore his paranoia, and act like he didn't know she was the cause of it. Add to that how she was rather intelligent, and Chris was willing to eventually give her a proper chance, if only to ensure he had intelligent conversation that he could actually follow.

When history had finished, Angela had given him a grateful look, packing up the _seven pages_ full of notes that she had written down somehow. And then, perhaps as a thank you for his good behaviour, she even escorted him over to biology before heading off to Physics herself.

So, looking around the classroom and getting the teacher to sign his slip, Chris slid into a seat at the front of the class. Like history, this would be a class he actually paid attention to, more however due to the fact that biology was when his inner blonde came out to play, than because he enjoyed it. But sadly, Physics was too advanced for him, he just couldn't follow it despite his 'mad math skills'. Chemistry on the other hand was boring as hell, he didn't care about things like atoms and molecules, beyond knowing things like how Piper Halliwell's powers affected molecular speed to freeze them or blow them up.

As the teacher - Mr Hulk-Banner - left the room to go get something, a brunette girl entered the classroom and instantly looked around. Despite not openly watching her, Chris could see the moment her eyes locked onto him, the way she almost lunged forward to slide onto the stool beside him.

"Chris?" she asked slowly, "Christopher Amell?"

"That's me," he admitted, the way he had been approached setting off warning bells in his head. "And you are?" he added when he glanced over to see the girl squinting at him, as if she was looking for something.

"Bella. Bella Swan," she introduced, holding her hand out before faltering, pulling it back slight. "Do you shake hands? If you don't want to then that's fine," she explained hesitantly, making him slowly reach out to grasp her hand, hearing her taking a sharp breath. "You're really hot, like you're burning up," she murmured slowly, staring at his hand like it held all the secrets to the universe.

"Charlie, my Dad," Bella continued as Chris gently tugged his hand away from hers, "He's the Chief of Police, he mentioned they were getting a new profiler, but he never said-"

She was cut off by Mr Hulk-Banner returning pulling both their attentions back to the front of the classroom, the man waving about some textbooks that he started to hand out.

"So what do you think of Forks so far?" Bella whispered over at him, "It was a real shock to me when I first moved here, so rainy and dark all the time".

"Well at least the middle of the year is apparently a lot more sunny," he agreed, confused by the familiar way the girl was talking to him, like they had known each other for years. "Forks probably isn't the best for sports".

"No, not really," Bella agreed, "The only real sport here is the football team. So sorry, but no hockey for you," she apologized, "I _do_ know about some baseball and soccer groups around here though, they're not official but they're something".

Chris just hummed non-committedly, the words '_No hockey for you'_ echoing through his mind repetitively. It was probably just his paranoia acting up, but there was no way for Bella to have known that he played hockey, it wasn't like h- "Your shirt," Bella added awkwardly, "Sorry I just assumed".

Glancing down at his shirt, Chris kicked himself mentally, the two crossed hockey sticks on his chest a dead giveaway. "I forgot I was wearing this," he mumbled awkwardly, grinning sheepishly up at her before his eyes drifted past her, towards where another brunette girl was shooting him a predatory look.

Either she was going to hunt him down and kill him or she was going to pounce and violate him. He wasn't sure what was worse...

Discarding that train of thought, Chris' mind returned to the foreground just in time to hear, "- I was up on google like all night, but I couldn't find anything," coming from Bella's mouth in a quiet whisper.

Humming in acknowledgement, Chris' blood ran cold at the next words Bella said. "Sorry if I'm being nosey, but I only found out vampires existed last year, so I'm still new to all this supernatural stuff".


End file.
